![Photo of Crowds filling the streets of Saigon to await the return of a referendum held in 1955. The majority of Saigon voters favored President Ngo Dinh Diem who declared the south an independent republic.](https://www.historynet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dinh-diem-elected-1955-VIEP-spring-2023.jpg)
Crowds in Saigon wave banners as they await the results of a referendum in 1955 establishing Diem as president of an independent South Vietnam. It has been established that election fraud played a role in Diem’s majority win. (© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)
© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images